As Oil and Gas Prices Plunge, Drilling Frenzy Ends

[DainBramaged]

The number of oil and gas rigs deployed to tap new energy supplies across the country has plunged to less than 1,200 from 2,400 last summer, and energy executives say the drop is accelerating further.

Lower prices are bringing to an end an ambitious effort to squeeze more oil from aging fields and to tap new sources of natural gas. For the last four years, companies here drilled below airports, golf courses, churches and playgrounds in a frantic search for energy. They scoured the Rocky Mountains, the Great Plains, the Gulf of Mexico and Appalachia.

But the economic downturn has cut into demand. Global oil prices and American natural gas prices have plummeted two-thirds since last summer. Not even an unseasonably cold winter drove down unusually high inventories of natural gas.

The drop has been good news for American consumers, with gasoline now selling for $1.92 a gallon, on average, down from a high of $4.11 in July. But the result for companies is that it is becoming unprofitable to drill.

The reversal of fortune could have important implications for the future health of the nation’s energy companies, for consumer wallets and for national aspirations to rely less on foreign energy sources.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/business/15drilling.html?hp

[ashling]

1. Drill baby drill!

I noted the following things in and about this story:

1) The story was in the Business section.

2) There was only one line which directly mentioned national aspirations to rely less on foreign energy sources....

3)This issue was of paramount importance to the Drill Baby Drill Republican Xenophobes back in July, when...

4) Big Republican fatcat donors were making a killing by sucking American Consumers dry at $4.+ a gallon.

In other words, the Republicans never had national security interests at heart ...they were and are interested only in their own pocketbooks. Disgusting!

[lonestarnot]

2. And that will never change, so don't forget it! Not EVER!